The present invention relates to an optical module and an optical transceiver, and in particular, to a semiconductor optical module appropriate for use in optical fiber communication, including a silicon substrate, a semiconductor optical element, and a ball lens.
Recent growth in the demand for economical, high-traffic-volume optical fiber communication systems has encouraged the development of small, high-speed, low-cost optical modules. In particular, the use of passive alignment with semiconductor substrates has attracted significant attention because it uses low-cost materials and simplifies assembly. Passive alignment is a method in which a semiconductor substrate is etched to precise dimensional tolerances in order to eliminate complex alignments that would otherwise be required at the time of assembly. Another improvement entailed includes the laser IC driver for the semiconductor luminescence element (hereinafter, laser diode) inside the optical module package. This allows smaller optical modules that are capable of functioning with smaller input signals.
An example of a laser diode using a semiconductor substrate as described above may be found in Japanese pre-grant patent publication No. H9-222540. Here, a trapezoidal trench formed in a silicon substrate is configured to preclude the obstruction of light emitted from a luminescence element and collimated by a ball lens. An example of placing both the laser diode and its laser driver IC inside an optical module package may be found in Japanese pre-grant publication No. 2000-91695. Here, the laser diode and the laser driver IC are mounted on separate members to provide thermal isolation.
The above described prior art technologies, however, have problems. In the optical coupling device with a trapezoidal trench as described in JP pre-grant publication H9-222540, bonds are made at three points. This means that the pressure applied during bonding must be applied, not perpendicular to the plane of the substrate, but perpendicular to a virtual plane that includes the three bonding points. The direction in which the force is applied is at an angle to the plane of the silicon substrate results in the unevenly applied force, which leads to improper positioning and degraded bond strength.
In the optical module described in JP pre-grant publication No. 2000-91695, because the laser diode and the laser driver IC are mounted on separate members, it is difficult to place them close together, and they also complicate signal line (bonding wire) impedance matching. Also, because the input signal to the laser driver IC for the laser diode is a single phase (single-ended) signal, parasitic impedance introduced by the bond wires, etc. can degrade the input signal waveform. These factors tend to degrade high-speed transmission characteristics.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a laser diode and a ball lens are mounted on a semiconductor substrate, and the ball lens is mounted/bonded in a pyramidal cavity that is etched into the substrate. This configuration allows the pressure during bonding to be applied perpendicular to the surface of the substrate so as to achieve high-precision mounting and a high-strength bond. In addition, to prevent the blocking or reflection of collimated light being emitted from the ball lens, the light-emitting side of the pyramidal cavity where the ball lens is mounted is removed.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the signal input to the laser driver IC that drives the laser diode is a differential input. The input lines to the module are alternately arranged between ground pins and signal pins so as to facilitate signal path impedance-matching. Furthermore, rather than placing the laser diode and the ball lens in the middle of the silicon substrate, they are placed at the edge on a side that is perpendicular to the edge from which the light is emitted (a side parallel to the direction of emission). The above placement allows the laser diode and its driver IC to be placed closer to each other. This close placement allows the length of the wire ribbons between the laser driver IC and the lands of the laser diode to be a maximum of 300 xcexcm, for minimizing impedance mismatch due to the wire ribbons in the signal path, and improving the high speed propagation characteristics.